In this chapter, Vergara (2016) describes a leadership development skills methodology called “Mindfulness into Action” (MIA). This methodology has been implemented in one informal intervention and three formal research-based interventions. MIA procedure is derived from multiple sources including indigenous knowledge, and organizational learning techniques. MIA is unique in its union of these sciences and manner of application to produce changes in behavior and perception in participants. Detailed analysis of these changes and the outcomes of the interventions is provided in Chapter Mindfulness into Action: Applying Systemic Thinking. Data suggest that the MIA Methodology effectively guides participants to recognize mindsets and behaviors that are sabotaging their social and professional function. Sustained engagement with the methodology yielded changes in mindsets and behaviors that generated a higher level of function and production. Our research includes indigenous practices in developing leadership skills. The idea of using Indigenous knowledge is not new. The work of Bates, Chiba, Kube and Nakashima (2009) states that Indigenous people have a broad knowledge of how to live sustainably. In her work of western-lead teams of researchers, Louise Grenier (1998) found that their development efforts usually fail to attain their objective because they did not take in account local technologies, local systems of knowledge, and the local environment. This study is focused in the implementation of this intervention with future research students through Indigenous practices. This intervention also uses organizational learning techniques. Chris Argyris with important help from Donald Schon (1974) and others developed the strategy called action science which is a strategy of organizational development. As participants identify their unknown behaviors, this chapter will introduce the theories and sciences behind MIA. These include Indigenous knowledge, mindset, reflexivity, mindfulness, leadership skills development, and organizational learning techniques. This chapter will also describe the anatomy of the methodology and the method of administering a MIA Intervention: 1) indigenous practices; 2) goal setting; 3) journaling; 4) visualization, and 5) organizational learning techniques. We conclude describing the methodology in the context of corporate realities and interests.

Mindfulness into Action (MIA) for Cultural Humility and Awareness (MIA-CHA) has the two main aims: 1) training students in how to be transformational leaders who are capable of addressing and resolving tension around diversity issues within organizations/ communities/ societies, as they emerge skilled in ending microaggressions (Pierce, 1995; Sue et al, 2007) and fostering cross-cultural harmony; and, 2) training students to emerge as competent researchers who may contribute data regarding the utility of MIA-CHA for ending microaggressions and promoting cultural humility and awareness to meet contemporary diversity challenges. The anticipated result is a new generation of researchers and new era of grant-funded research that pioneers MIA-CHA for ending microaggressions and fostering harmony. Through participation in a leadership skills development methodology (chapter 31) that incorporates indigenous knowledge and organizational learning techniques, students gradually become more aware of their own unconscious behaviors, more in tune with the people surrounding them, and increasingly skillful in engaging in conscious and intentional action. They become what Boyatzis and Mckee (2005) call “resonant leaders.” This means that they are capable of achieving a new awareness that is vital in cross-cultural interactions: i.e. the ability to connect with their thoughts, emotions, and hearts in ways that enable them to counteract the destructive effects of stress, dissonance, and self-limiting mindsets often associated with contemporary diversity challenges; and, instead, they learn to nurture the development of sustainable, harmonious, and high functioning relationships shared among the diverse membership of organizations and communities. Further, they enter into a process that is consistent with learning cultural humility, as a valued construct in the discourse on achieving cultural competence (Tervaln & Murray-Garcia, 1998; Waters & Asbill, 2013; Hook et al, 2013). This is virtually the process described by Wallace (2008), as shifting from hierarchical authority (A/B) in interpersonal and organizational relationships to non-hierarchical equality (A=B). In similar way, Participatory Action Research (PAR) is doing research with people rather than on them (Fals Borda, 1979; Heron, 1996; Heron & Reason 1997; Reason 1996, 1988; Reason & Bradbury, 2010).

E-learning provides a unique opportunity to reach people across the globe in the most remote locations, such as the Indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest, the focus of our work. We take into consideration teams as learners within the technological context of Mindfulness into Action (MIA) e-learning platform to build upon relationships for sustainability of cultural Indigenous knowledge. The MIA platform goes beyond traditional paradigms and includes the support of Talent Jungle, a program that believes in everyone's uniqueness. Imparting knowledge is not the privilege of professionals, a westernized worldview, but is an inherent right of everyone. The Indigenous people of the Amazon have much to contribute to the western worldview by way of Indigenous natural medicine within their knowledge. Here we are readdressing situational leadership by reconceptualizing leadership skills development in a methodology that emphasizes the importance of social exchange without leaders or followers through technology educational space. By using media to facilitate interdisciplinary research in various fields, MIA is using Indigenous knowledge to take action to protect in the Amazon rainforest. The idea of using Indigenous knowledge is not new. The work of Bates, Chiba, Kube, and Nakashima (2009) states that Indigenous people have a broad knowledge of how to live sustainably. In her work of western-lead teams of researchers, Louise Grenier (1998) found that their development efforts usually fail to attain their objective because they did not take in account local technologies, local systems of knowledge, and the local environment. In order to address this situation, in this chapter we are suggesting to include Indigenous practices in training future research students.

Our Mindfulness into Action (MIA) research includes indigenous practices in exploring the potential for developing reflective leaders. When conducting research, Flood (2006) describes the system thinking approach as having two components: system thinking and systemic thinking. Understanding the difference between these two influences would provide a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon (intangible) and how it relates to research. System thinking is objective (tangible). This objective data is measured by quantitative and qualitative research method approaches. On the other hand, systemic thinking is subjective (intangible) as in the case with our taken-for-granted assumptions, which in this dissertation are measured qualitatively. The power of effective problem solving not only involves efficiency (tangible data), but also evaluates perspectives. Scholars such as, Senge (1990) describes this involuntary habitual life as mental models, yet we continue to operate within “the Veil” (Du Bois, 1989). Peter Senge (1990) questions if we are prisoners of the system or prisoners of our own thinking. In his book “The Fifth Discipline” he describes mental models as deeply engrained assumptions, generalizations or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. If we can identify our mental models, this information can help in appreciating the forces that are shaping reality and how we are part of those forces and therefore, we can in turn affect them. Identifying our mental models allows for a neutral ground where different perspectives can meet to find a possible solution to the issue at hand. As participants identify their mental models, we describe the data from a MIA exploratory study; this chapter develops in four dimensions: subjectivity (e.g. mental models), objectivity (e.g. behavior), inter-subjectivity (e.g., culture), and inter-objectivity (e.g. systems).

Dr. Laurence Steinberg’s busy schedule prevented him from contributing his own journal article based on his keynote address. However, he was able to review, edit, and approve the contents of this article, which captures his keynote address, while covering the following topics: 1) the need to change how adolescence is conceived as something to survive; 2) the need to turn to brain science for a new vision of adolescence, including the importance of understanding brain plasticity; 3) the essential focus on self-control as a factor for consideration, as per findings from research; 4) the impact from the interaction of sex hormones and the neurotransmitter dopamine upon adolescents; 5) how adolescence is a stage of opportunity, as well as vulnerability due to brain plasticity—as in being vulnerable to mental illness, substance dependence, and stress and trauma; 6) the need to change how we think about juvenile justice policy and practice, and five lessons from brain science in this regard; 7) the importance of considering early disadvantages for children of color and implications for disparities; 8) implications, overall, for policy and practice in the criminal justice system; 9) the need to re-think how society sanctions adolescents, as well as the need for professionals and society to take advantage of adolescence as an opportunity. Finally, the article ends with the author’s own commentary and analysis, which extends some of the implications of the keynote address—including the need to focus on both proximal and distal factors, such as social determinants of disadvantage.

ABSTRACT This article focuses on Black girls/adolescents, a frequently neglected group, given a dominant focus on Black males and their risk status within the school-to-prison pipeline. This article provides a framework for the analysis of the gendered violence to which Black girls/adolescents are subjected while urging a shift in focus from individual-level behavior to a focus on social contextual, structural, and social determinant factors; this means a shift from focusing on proximal factors to distal or upstream factors operating as underlying mechanisms. Both illustrative data and cases are presented and analyzed to highlight how racial disparities in suspension, expulsion, and discipline—which disproportionately negatively impact Black girls/adolescents compared to White girls/adolescents—necessitate a major call to action to close these disturbing gaps.

ABSTRACT The November 21, 2015, conference Health Disparities, Trauma, Disruptive and Criminal Behaviors and the Adolescent Brain, examined the national problem of youth incarceration by exploring research on the adolescent brain, trauma, poverty, racism, health disparities and mental health treatment. This special theme issue of the Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy provides an opportunity for selected authors to contribute original articles that capture their contributions to the conference event. The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to this special theme issue. This article provides an overview of the following: the roots of the conference, including the role of numerous collaborators; specific major developments that contributed to the evolution of the conference focus; and a brief overview of the actual articles that have been selected for inclusion in the theme issue.

The 30 year anniversary of the crack epidemic that dawned in 1984 provides opportunity for analysis of how the epidemic spurred evolution in community-based addiction treatment. The author’s professional time-line of psychological consultation work “in the trenches” of the War on Drugs is used for marking developments in the evolution of community-based addiction treatment driven by the crack epidemic. Presentation of this professional timeline sets the stage for a call for social action for social justice, and advocacy—especially collaborative advocacy with colleagues and community members. Eight objectives recommended to guide education and training seek to prepare a diverse workforce for engagement in collaborative advocacy. A case example from the author’s professional time -line demonstrates engagement in collaborative advocacy. Conclusions emphasize how the professional time-line effectively illustrated: (1) how the crack epidemic stimulated systematic evolution in community-based addiction treatment; (2) how the War on Drugs policy wrought devastation and trauma upon adults, infants, children, families and entire communities; and, (3) how the crack epidemic and unjust response of the War on Drugs policy, together in toxic combination, indelibly marred the lives of members of vulnerable populations—i.e., women, mothers, infants/children separated from parents, those who contracted HIV/AIDS, those who died of AIDS, AIDS orphans, multiproblem mandated clients, the incarcerated subject to lockdown in prolonged inhumane isolation, and MICAs (mentally ill chemical abusers). These vulnerable special populations may never have come into being—if not for the toxic combination of the crack epidemic and War on Drugs police, while they stand as a lasting legacy to their combined impact. Meanwhile, other contemporary diverse populations also entering treatment include sexual orientation minorities, and men who have sex with men. The imperative of training in competence with multicultural populations also represents evolution.

The 30 th year anniversary of the crack epidemic that dawned in 1984 provides opportunity for analysis of how the epidemic spurred evolution in community-based addiction treatment. The author’s professional time-line of psychological consultation work “in the trenches” of the War on Drugs is used for marking developments in the evolution of community-based addiction treatment driven by the crack epidemic. Presentation of this professional timeline sets the stage for a call for social action for social justice, and advocacy—especially collaborative advocacy with colleagues and community members. Eight objectives recommended to guide education and training seek to prepare a diverse workforce for engagement in collaborative advocacy. A case example from the author’s professional time -line demonstrates engagement in collaborative advocacy. Conclusions emphasize how the professional time-line effectively illustrated: (1) how the crack epidemic stimulated systematic evolution in community-based addiction treatment; (2) how the War on Drugs policy wrought devastation and trauma upon adults, infants, children, families and entire communities; and, (3) how the crack epidemic and unjust response of the War on Drugs policy, together in toxic combination, indelibly marred the lives of members of vulnerable populations—i.e., women, mothers, infants/children separated from parents, those who contracted HIV/AIDS, those who died of AIDS, AIDS orphans, multiproblem mandated clients, the incarcerated subject to lockdown in prolonged inhumane isolation, and MICAs (mentally ill chemical abusers). These vulnerable special populations may never have come into being—if not for the toxic combination of the crack epidemic and War on Drugs police, while they stand as a lasting legacy to their combined impact. Meanwhile, other contemporary diverse populations also entering treatment include sexual orientation minorities, and men who have sex with men. The imperative of training in competence with multicultural populations also represents evolution.

Within a chronology of crack that spans from 1981 up to the present, this article will provide the rationale for selecting the year 1984 as signaling the dawning of the crack epidemic. Next, the article will provide a nexus of seven repercussions from the crack epidemic that reverberate into the new millennium, as follows: (1) Public health crisis of considerable magnitude and long duration that involves overlapping epidemics of crack/other drug use, HIV/AIDS, and violence—as well as related disease syndemics; (2) Flawed and unjust War on Drugs policy that has driven irrational responses to the public health crisis of overlapping epidemics; (3) Crisis of mass incarceration within a burgeoning United States’ prison industrial complex that has been prolonged, enduring, and includes a host of negative national and international consequences; (4) Crisis of trust in the governing infrastructure of the United States’ (a) legislature, (b) judiciary, (c) criminal justice system, and (d) law enforcement that manifests in the national consciousness as a widespread mistrust and suspicion; (5) Crisis of disruption in social progress and gains made since the civil rights movement that gave way to ongoing community mobilization efforts, as well as societal -wide improvements in human relations, and the overcoming of negative stereotypes about members of various racial, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, and sexual orientation groups; (6) Crisis of special vulnerable populations left especially at risk by facing various combinations of criminalization, stigmatization, targeted oppression, marginalization, and isolation, while not provided with adequate access to primary, secondary, and tertiary public health interventions; and, (7) Innovation and evolution in research, treatment, service delivery, models of practice, training, outreach, advocacy, and policy spurred from pressures that commonly attend a regional, national and international epidemic, especially when there are overlapping epidemics over an extended period of time—effectively driving development. A Figure shows the seven factors in dynamic interaction—while the nexus provides a framework that encompasses the other articles in the theme issue.

The tremendous growth in the use of Web 2.0 technologies, interactive computer technologies, electronic records, and mobile devices for delivery of e-health necessitates attention to design. Designing e-health requires consideration of research, including best practices embodied in design principles. This chapter reviews key background information, including central definitions, concepts, and research, followed by a presentation of 9 key considerations that are recommended for guiding the design of e-health messages. An illustrative case example demonstrates how a typology that codifies design principles gave rise to a research tool that permits the evaluation of health care websites. The case example underscores the important role of findings from research evaluations in creating a feedback loop for designers, permitting research to inform refinements in design. Overall, the 9 key considerations suggest a new paradigm for design, while also giving rise to corresponding recommendations for future research to support evolution in the field of e-health.

The purpose of this article was to discuss significant challenges to the achievement of urban health, specifically acknowledging numerous controversies in knowledge translation for community-based drug treatment that prevent the achievement of health equity. Seven specific controversies are analyzed in this article. The results of the analysis are recommendations for moving toward the resolution of each controversy. Among the most important recommendations is a call to end the policies of the war on drugs and mass incarceration of drug offenders—as policies reflecting how politics and the misuse of power may derail knowledge translation. The article provides justification for evidence-based policy that supports community-based drug treatment as a public health approach consistent with the goals of health equity, ethical practice, and effective knowledge translation.

Given the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States and the high prevalence of trauma histories among those incarcerated, it is imperative to improve service delivery to inmates in correctional facilities and to those undergoing reentry in community-based treatment settings. This article provides trauma definitions and categories, describes the sequelae of trauma, reviews research on the high prevalence of incarceration in this nation, and reviews research on the high prevalence of trauma among the incarcerated. This article also provides a menu of evidence-based and promising treatment approaches to address the overlap among trauma, mental illness, substance abuse, and behavioral problems. A synthesis of research via seven points is meant to guide practitioner and policy responses to the national challenge of meeting the needs of those undergoing reentry.

The ongoing HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City and the increased use of Internet sexual social networking websites by MSM fosters a need to understand the characteristics and sex-related behaviors of this group. The authors conducted an online survey of 195 MSM who use sexual social networking websites in New York City. Demographic characteristics, sexual sensation seeking, and HIV optimism-skepticism were compared among participants reporting sex with and without condom use (safe sex and high-risk sex, respectively) with partners met online. There was no difference in income, education, race, or employment status between the groups. The groups differed significantly in age, sexual sensation seeking, and HIV optimism-skepticism. In a multivariate logistic regression both HIV optimism-skepticism (p < .05) and sexual sensation seeking (p < .05) were significant predictors of high-risk sexual behavior (pseudo-R-2 = .24). This information should be considered when developing interventions for this group. For example, to reach those with high sexual sensation seeking, public health professionals should design sex-positive prevention messages for online distribution that highlight safer sex without condemning risky sexual practices.